Things to know about Windows 10 upgrade

Windows 10 is finally here. If you hated Windows 8, you’re most likely in love with Windows 10. Of course, you might still be waiting in line for your chance to download the upgrade. Microsoft is rolling it out in stages. Or you could also be deciding whether you even want to upgrade. New software almost always has bugs to work out, and sometimes you just don’t know what to expect.

Whether you’re on the fence about Windows 10 or champing at the bit to try it, here are some features that you need to know:

Customize Start menu

It looks a lot like Windows 7. The Start button is back, and it opens up the Start menu, instead of taking you to the touch-friendly Start screen. Even though the mouse-and-keyboard users weren’t crazy about the Start screen with those big, blocky live tiles, it was actually pretty functional and attractive.

Windows 10 gives you the best of both worlds. Now you can customize the Start menu to look and work like you want it to. You can tweak almost everything about it. Just click and drag the edges to make each live tile as big or as small as you want.

Adding or removing programs, files, folders and live tiles is just as easy. Right-click an icon and select “Pin to Start” to add it to your Start menu. Once it’s in there, you can click and hold to drag it wherever you want it. You can also group icons together into categories.

If you love live tiles, you can add them to the menu. If you hate them, you can get rid of them quickly just by right-clicking.

Manage updates

If you’ve been following Windows 10 through its development, you’ve probably heard a lot of the controversy surrounding the new update procedure. Gone are the days of picking and choosing which updates you want and which ones you don’t. With Windows 10 Home, you’re getting them all, and you’re getting them automatically.

Microsoft wants its updates to work more like a website. Nobody wonders what version of Amazon.com they’re using or how to get the latest patch. The only choices you get now are whether you want to defer updates (if you have Windows 10 Pro) that aren’t essential for security and whether you want to install them and restart manually or automatically.

You can control your updates through the Settings screen. Just click Start and choose “Settings.” Almost everything you need to do to manage your system is in this window. Click the “Update & security” icon, and select the “Windows Update” tab. Then click “Advanced Options.” If you have Windows 10 Pro, you’ll be able to defer updates or enable Windows 10 to automatically update other Microsoft programs like Office.

Search Windows and more

You’ve been able to search through files, folders and programs on Windows forever. You can still do that, but now it’s way smarter. Windows 10 search is powered by Cortana, Microsoft’s answer to Siri and Google Now. Cortana will pop up the first time you use search. You can type your searches or just use your voice.

The more you use Cortana, the more she learns about your habits and preferences. Over time, she’ll get a lot better, and pretty soon she’ll be spot-on in figuring out exactly what you want when you search. She’ll predict your needs and offer you solutions such as traffic or weather updates. It’s pretty cool, if also a bit creepy.

If you don’t want to use Cortana, that’s OK too. Just click the “Not interested” button when she first appears. Or you can always change Cortana’s settings later by clicking the little gear-shaped icon to the left of the search area.

Explorer window

If there’s one thing that’s synonymous with Windows, it’s Windows Explorer. I’m talking about the file manager that you can use to access anything on your PC. Windows Explorer is still here, but it looks different.

The first thing you’ll notice is a toolbar across the top of every Explorer window. It looks a lot like the ribbon at the top of Microsoft Office. Another big difference is that Explorer is now heavily integrated with OneDrive and Microsoft Live. OneDrive is Microsoft’s online cloud storage service, just like iCloud and Google Drive. With Windows 10, you automatically get a Microsoft Live account and 5GB of free storage on OneDrive.

In Windows Explorer, You can drag files and folders quickly and easily between your OneDrive online storage and your local hard drive. Be careful! If you’re not paying attention, it’s easy to accidentally upload something to OneDrive that you didn’t mean to.